The first lab of the semester is coming up and there’s a lot of excitement in the air. I am keeping my fingers crossed that these students continue their enthusiasm the entire semester and that I can live up to their expectations. Today they were hanging on to my every word. Moving their chairs so they could see in the demonstration mirror at a better angle. Asking some very good questions. They were so engaged in learning. That is what I want every single day!
The recipe that we are using for our first lab is a variation of a basic muffin. I love it because the muffins are not cake which means they are not loaded with sugar. Most recipes that I have looked at lately have more than a cup of sugar for just a dozen muffins. That will put them at right over 200 calories a piece. Add chocolate chips or a sugar topping and it morphs into cake!
Muffins with only 1/4 cup of sugar are almost unheard of and this is the correct amount so don’t go adjusting your computer. I just had to make them to see if they were worth it. Well, let me tell you that they are! Instead of using milk as the liquid apple juice is used. That’s the sweetener, also. Just one cup of sugar has 720 calories. This recipe calls for 3/4 cup of apple juice which is about 100 calories depending on the brand you buy. What a whopping difference substituting the apple juice as a sweetener. Now I will have to admit that I should have bought a sweeter apple, maybe a Gala or a Fuji instead of a Granny Smith. The Granny Smith’s were over a dollar a bag cheaper. I saved almost $4. You choose what is more important to you.
Would this work with other types of muffins such as blueberry? What about bran muffins? Why don’t you try it out and let me know if it will work?
Here are a few tips to follow when preparing muffins
- Mix all dry ingredients together.
- Mix all liquid ingredients together.
- Add all liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened
- Over stirring will cause the muffins to peak instead of having rounded tops
- Over stirring will cause tunnels or I call them worm holes to form inside the muffin.
- If you use a dark pan ( I hate them) reduce the heat by 25 degrees and watch them carefully. The dark pan absorbs the heat and cooks much faster than a shiny pan.
- Let the muffins cool a few minutes before removing the baking paper or all the good stuff will end up on the paper!
In the meantime while we are anxiously awaiting the new generation of cooks, here is the recipe. Look for the post this weekend of the results of our first lab of the semester. What do these teens have in store for me?
Apple Muffins from Pillsbury
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup of finely chopped apple
- 3/4 cup of apple juice
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 egg, beaten
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffins pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder , salt and cinnamon. Stir in 1 cup of finely chopped apple. In a small bowl, combine apple juice, oil and egg. Mix well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 18 to 22 minutes. ( Mine cooked in 17 minutes). Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Yield is 12 muffins.
Happy Cooking,
The Teacher Cooks
The Teacher Cooks 
These look delicious!
I always struggle with the fine line between muffin and cake. The Snickerdoodle muffins I make might as well be cake!
Hope school is going well!
School is going very well. I have some very eager students who are just so excited about learning to cook!
Apple muffins sound great!
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I never knew there was such a thing as over-mixing your batter!
Your demo was really helpful to us when it came time for my group to actually do it by ourselves. It helped us learn what to do and what not to do.
The demo really helped our group know how to do things when we got in the kitchen; because we remembered how you had showed us to do things.
I learned you don’t have to sift the flower every time you bake depending on what you are making.
I didn’t know that mixing your batter too much causes the little holes inside of your muffins or made them get a peak.
I learned in the demo that if your using a liquid with a lot of sugar then you measure half of the sugar that you put in there!
I lerarn how to chopped apples into small pieces.
Learned how much to fill the cups up to make them all even and round
The apple muffins we cooked were fun! I really enjoyed working together as team and getting to experience the great basics of cooking.
I’m glad that you had a demo for us the day before . I would have been totally lost because i’ve never really experienced cooking so independently.
The demo was very informative. I realize how important it is to mix ingredients to the right consistency.
when I watched the demo i learned to separate the liquids from the solids and then add them together.
I learned that when cutting apples you have to cut the apples into really thin pieces, so that you wouldn’t have big chunks of apples in your muffins.
The demo was really good and showed me exactly what I needed to do to make the muffins.
The demo really helped our group out which helped us make great muffins!
I learned not to stir too much.
I learned it’s easier to peel an apple before you cut it.
I think the demo helped a lot with our group. Our muffins probably wouldn’t have turned out so good if it wasn’t for your demo!
i learned that you have to put the right amount of ingredents in the recips to make it tastes right
i learned that you have to put the right amount of ingrendent in the recips to make it tastes right
I learned that muffins dont require a lot of sugar.
Baking powder was a key ingredient and although we didn’t use much, it still was necessary to make good muffins.
These muffins could have used a few more apples!!
i learned that if you stir the muffin mix too much then you will have little holes in your muffins.
i learned you can use apple juice instead of milk.
The demo helped me alot and I learned that you can’t stir the ingrediants to much or too little.
The demo that was given, helped you see when to do everything and how to do it correctly. When it came time to do it on our own, we knew what to expect.
I didn’t know that their was such thing as under mixing and over mixing your batter because if you don’t mix it right the muffins will have wormholes in it or a cone shaped top.
I learned that you can subsititute apple juice for sugar to make it less sweet and give it less calories
I learned that messing up one ingredient can screw up the whole recipe
i learned that baking powder is very important when making muffins.
the muffin you made was good and i liked how when you showed us how to do them you didnt move to fast and gave us a chance to taste them.
i learned that you cant mix alot cause in will make it have holes and they can come out flat if you do
The demo helped our group,we tried to do it just like Mrs. Lupo and i think they turned out great!
it really helped to have the demo:D
i didn’t know that you had to reduce the the heat when the pan is darker.
My first time in the kitchen was very fun, everyone worked together to make sure the muffins were perfect!
i learned that using the apple juice, makes up for the small amount of sugar.
By using this demo i learned that apple muffins doesn’t take that much time to be baked.
I learned that you can substitue other ingredients for milk and sugar.
The demo was great! it was like I was watching Food Network!
From this demo, I have learned that you should always cook (bake) to the lowest time alotted, so that if your food is not done, you may continue to cook… Rather than cooking it to the maximum time and allowing it to overcook and burn.
For the demo I thought that the muffins tasted very well and that they look very good. Also the demo showed me new ways to measure accuaretly
Suchh a good demo! haha
i enjoyed the demo, and im ready for more!
i liked that you showed us all the tips on how to measure properly! it can really affect how the end product is!
when me my group made the Apple muffins i learned that if you dont put enough apple juice in the batter that the muffins will come out flat !
i learned if you stirr too much the muffins will cone
I love reading the comments from your students! 🙂 They are so much to have you. And, the muffins? Want some!
Those tasted delicous! They were so fluffy.